Christian community protests against Raveena Tandon, Farah Khan and Bharti Singh in Jammu for allegedly hurting religious sentiments

Members of the Christian community staged a protest against actor Raveena Tandon, director-Choreographer Farah Khan and comedian Bharti Singh in Jammu on Sunday for allegedly hurting their religious sentiment during a recent TV show.

The protesters assembled at Shaheedi Chowk in the city and raised slogans to express their anguish against the Bollywood personalities for their alleged blasphemous act, officials said. They objected to the usage of the word ‘Hallelujah’ on Khan’s web-series Backbenchers, where Tandon had made an appearance.

On the show, Khan had asked Singh to spell the word. While Tandon spelled it correctly, Singh was unable to. She further described it as a vulgar term.

The police said the protesters, including women, marched in a peaceful procession and later dispersed peacefully.

A second FIR has been registered within a week in Punjab against the trio for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments. The celebrities have also been booked in Beed city of Maharashtra in connection with the show aired on Christmas eve.

Khan and Tandon had tweeted clarifications, following the objections and complaints.

Here are the tweets

I’m extremely saddened that some sentiments have been inadvertently hurt by a recent episode of my show. I respect all religions, n it would never be my intention 2disrespect any.On behalf of the entire team, Raveena Tandon, Bharti Singh and Myself.. we do sincerely apologise.

— TheFarahKhan (@TheFarahKhan) December 27, 2019

Please do watch this link. I haven't said a word that can be interpreted as an insult to any religion. The three of us (Farah Khan, Bharti Singh and I) never intended to offend anyone, but in case we did, my most sincere apologies to those who were hurt. https://t.co/tT2IONqdKI

— Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) December 26, 2019

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)